Ask Chicago: Is the Naked Bike Ride Legal?

Technically, Chicago has rules about people riding nekkid in the streets—and yet the streak goes on. Get a glimpse on Saturday.

By Matt Pollock

Published June 12, 2014

Q: Is the naked bike ride that happens every June legal?

A: Technically, no, given that full public nudity is against the law here. But police have cited only a handful of cyclists since the annual ride—started to bring “attention to people-powered transport and promoting positive body image,” according to chicagonakedride.org—first streaked its way across city streets in 2004.

(A CPD spokesman says that the event “poses no public safety threat.”) Steven Lane, who maps the 14-mile route, credits darkness and speed for the low number of citations: “You move through each precinct in about five minutes.”